Best 292 quotes in «tennis quotes» category

There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport... It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.

There's a lot of things I want to do. I want to learn Italian. I want to learn to play tennis better. I want to motivate the world, basically.

There were times when I asked myself whether I was being principled or simply a coward.... I was wrapped in the cocoon of tennis early in life, mainly by blacks like my most powerful mentor, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Virginia. They insisted that I be unfailingly polite on the court, unfalteringly calm and detached, so that whites could never accuse me of meanness. I learned well. I look at photographs of the skinny, frail, little black boy that I was in the early 1950s, and I see that I was my tennis racquet and my tennis racquet was me. It was my rod and my staff.

There was something so cool about being able to carry this film [Into the Forest] together [with Ellen Page] and to play off of each other. It was like having the most worthy tennis opponent.

The tennis challenger starts strong but soon loses confidence in his playing. The champion racks up the games. But in the final set, when the challenger has nothing left to lose, he becomes relaxed again, insouciant, daring. Suddenly he's playing like the devil and the champion must work hard to get those last points.

There is no cheap way to achieve the ability to turn pro in tennis; it unfortunately is more expensive than team sports.

The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court, and myself.

The two dozen commonplace childhood photographs - snowsuit, pony, tennis racket, looming fender of a Dodge - were an inexhaustible source of wonder for him, at her having existed before he met her, and of sadness for his possessing nothing of the ten million minutes of that black-and-white scallop-edged existence save these few proofs.

The roughest thing I ever said to an umpire was, 'Are you sure?'

They call him the Streak, he likes to turn the other cheek. He's always making the news, wearing just his tennis shoes.

To be a tennis champion, you have to be inflexible. You have to be stubborn. You have to be arrogant. You have to be selfish and self-absorbed. Kind of tunnel vision almost.

The thing about tennis is if you stay off for two weeks, or just for three days, you can lose your rhythm quickly. So it's just a question of constant diligence and vigilance.

Training the body to obey the mind as I have done differs from the more conventional method of getting the mind to obey the body.

Try throwing a ball just once for a dog. It would be like eating only one peanut or potato chip. Try to ignore the importuning of a Golden Retriever who has brought you his tennis ball, the greatest treasure he possesses!

Throughout my career, my mind rarely wandered, and I was never sidetracked by distractions, no matter what I was going through off the court.

Umpires are like emotional girlfriends, once they make up their minds, there is no point in arguing

To Yossarian, the idea of pennants as prizes was absurd. No money went with them, no class privileges. Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.

Usually, I wear tennis shoes because my feet are flat, and it hurts to wear anything other than shoes that are cushiony.

Well, my mum's been a tennis coach - she coached me till I was 12.

We all choke. Winners know how to handle choking better than losers.

Unbelievable, yet, what else could it be?

We need to remember that we can't compete endlessly with other nations that set their income taxes substantially lower than ours. They will attract jobs, and investment. They may generate more tax - and they may even persuade their tennis champs to run that extra half yard

We've been training and playing full-time since we were 18 and 19. So after tennis, we'll be excited to see what it's like to have more free time.

What rivalry? I win all the matches.

We're following the evolution of tennis. On the women's side, there has been a very positive change, with the arrival of many new stars.

When I lost a tennis match that made me upset or hurt emotionally I would find myself going to the piano and playing for hours. It was my place of refuge and solace.

When I'm in L.A., I try to run the canyons or play tennis with friends a few times a week. I've tried working out with a trainer and going to the gym, but I'd just much rather be outside.

When I'm playing my best, like I was at the U.S. Open, I feel on top of the match and able to do exactly what I want. There are other times when you're not in control, but that is tennis and you have momentum changes in every single match.

When I play, I feel like in a theatre, why should I look ugly then, because I'm a tennis player?

When I need to relax, I love to go to the movies or watch a good TV series. I also practice a lot of sport, mostly tennis and swimming.

When I committed to playing a little tennis in some exhibitions, it was the best thing for me. It got me in shape. It got me out of the house. It got me doing something I love to do.

When I walk through that gate to the court, that's my escape. I block out everything, good and bad.

When you start from nothing, when you come from nothing, it makes you hungry. I am proud of where I came from and I know what I want. I want to win.

When you do something best in life, you don't really want to give that up - and for me it's tennis.

Why I love chess and tennis - the volleying aspect, and the fact that your competitors' reactions and motivations and bluffs come into the game itself.

Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for felonious assault.

while it's true in tennis, love is zero. but zero is also where everything starts. nothing would ever be born if we didn't depart from there. nothing would be ever achieved.

Wimbledon attracted Bill Clinton to the gallery at Centre Court Tuesday at the All England Club. NBC cameras showed his head turning back and forth with each volley. Even at a tennis match, it looks like he's denying everything.

Wimbledon is getting a bit too like Royal Ascot. It's not what happens or who wins so much, as what clothes do I have on.

Wimbledon is the world's most boring tournament. There's hardly anything to do apart from tennis. You constantly find yourself yawning - there's no entertainment here.

Why did I lose? No reason, though you might like to know that I got tired, my ears started popping, the rubber came off my shoes, I got cramp, and I lost one of my contact lenses. Other than that I was in great shape.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

Yeah, I think there are many other important things in life, not just tennis.

You are always talking about yourself and tennis and how you are feeling. I try to avoid it when I don't have to.

Working with Brando was fun. It was like a tennis match. We played unbelievably well together.

You'd have to think that if he'd been around today, Rod Laver would have been Rod Laver.

You did the best you could," and she seemed to believe I had. I said, "I've just been going through the motions," using the expression my father had after he'd watched my first tennis lesson. "Sweetie," she said, "that's what a lot of life is.

You don't think about anything because you just try to playevery game, every point. If you get some chance, you try to take this chance.

You have to believe on the court. In the end, it's mental. In these moments against a great champion like Rafa, you have to believe. It's all about stepping in and taking your chances. I always believed, but it's a process of learning.

Wrestling was my first success, the first thing that confirmed that I could be good at anything. Devoting yourself to wrestling, or tennis, or skiing, or dance, or to a musical instrument is a longing to be disciplined for a purpose.